Let's talk accent (Philadelphia, Avalon, Penn: private school, suburbs, retired)

[BTA88]

How about pronouncing crayon as "crown"

Does anyone watch Bar Rescue? I'm trying to pinpoint the hosts accent. It sounds like an awkward combination of Philly and NY.

[mancat100]

How about when the name "Mike" is pronounced "Moik". I've heard that from blue collar white guys from Delco.

[Clark Park]

What I am about to say generates a lot of heated disagreement from native Philadelphians, but I maintain that the Philly accent is not that far removed from the urban accents of the New York-New Jersey region. The Philly accent is closer to these accents than, say, the Baltimore accent which has a much closer "Southern" sound.

As someone born in New York City and lived in a couple of different towns in New Jersey, I hear many similarities - and also differences in the Philly inflections of speech.

My theory is that not only does education play a part in your accent, but your ethnic background. To me, Italian-Americans from South Philly and Ridley Park sound a lot like Italian-Americans from Bay Ridge Brooklyn, Staten Island or the Jersey Shore. Jews from Bala Cynwyd, Elkins Park and Bryn Mawr sound like Jews from Fresh Meadows Queens and Garden City Long Island. Many if not most African Americans here have a detectable accent from the South.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by Clark Park

What I am about to say generates a lot of heated disagreement from native Philadelphians, but I maintain that the Philly accent is not that far removed from the urban accents of the New York-New Jersey region. The Philly accent is closer to these accents than, say, the Baltimore accent which has a much closer "Southern" sound.

As someone born in New York City and lived in a couple of different towns in New Jersey, I hear many similarities - and also differences in the Philly inflections of speech.

My theory is that not only does education play a part in your accent, but your ethnic background. To me, Italian-Americans from South Philly and Ridley Park sound a lot like Italian-Americans from Bay Ridge Brooklyn, Staten Island or the Jersey Shore. Jews from Bala Cynwyd, Elkins Park and Bryn Mawr sound like Jews from Fresh Meadows Queens and Garden City Long Island. Many if not most African Americans here have a detectable accent from the South.

Unless they're New York transplants, that's definitely not true.

[jtom605]

Originally Posted by Clark Park

What I am about to say generates a lot of heated disagreement from native Philadelphians, but I maintain that the Philly accent is not that far removed from the urban accents of the New York-New Jersey region. The Philly accent is closer to these accents than, say, the Baltimore accent which has a much closer "Southern" sound.

As someone born in New York City and lived in a couple of different towns in New Jersey, I hear many similarities - and also differences in the Philly inflections of speech.

My theory is that not only does education play a part in your accent, but your ethnic background. To me, Italian-Americans from South Philly and Ridley Park sound a lot like Italian-Americans from Bay Ridge Brooklyn, Staten Island or the Jersey Shore. Jews from Bala Cynwyd, Elkins Park and Bryn Mawr sound like Jews from Fresh Meadows Queens and Garden City Long Island. Many if not most African Americans here have a detectable accent from the South.

I don't agree. I believe the Philly accent is closer to Baltimore than it is to NYC. South Philly Italians don't really talk like Rocky; Stallone used a New York accent.

While I'm on the subject, Rocky was supposed to be from Kensington, and people from Kensington definitely don't talk like Rocky. It's only a fictional movie, but a lot of outsiders develop their first impression of the Philly accent through Rocky.

[BTA88]

Originally Posted by jtom605

It's only a fictional movie, but a lot of outsiders develop their first impression of the Philly accent through Rocky.

Not just the accent. The culture, the skyline, the attitude... Why couldn't Rocky have been in Baltimore or something?

[Avalon08]

Originally Posted by Antdawg1

How does last and parents sound, I don't know those?

My best description of Philly pronunciations of those words:

Last rhymes with a** rather than the "a" in "fact"

Parents pronounced pair-ents rather than the "a" in "hassle"

I definitely do not see anything similar about the New York/North Jersey accents and Philly's. Maybe if you're comparing Jersey Soprano-type accents to Italians in South Philly. One of the reasons I loved watching the Sopranos was that they sounded like so many Italians I knew growing up in this area. But I think it was more the inflections and the "Italian-ization" of words like "gobba-gool" that sounded so similar though.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by jtom605

I don't agree. I believe the Philly accent is closer to Baltimore than it is to NYC.

You're absolutely correct:

The Philadelphia dialect shares some unusual features with the New York dialect and to a lesser extent other regions of the US, although it is a distinct dialect region. The Philadelphia dialect is, however, in most respects similar to the dialects of Reading, Pennsylvania, Wilmington, Delaware, and Baltimore, together with which it constitutes what [world-renowned linguist William] Labov describes as the "Mid-Atlantic Dialect".

[drive carephilly]

Originally Posted by Avalon08

My best description of Philly pronunciations of those words:

Last rhymes with a** rather than the "a" in "fact"

Parents pronounced pair-ents rather than the "a" in "hassle"

I do hear some people pronounce "parents" with that extra vowel that it doesn't actually have but those people are definitely in the minority (mostly kids who watch too much TV).

[BTA88]

Originally Posted by drive carephilly

I do hear some people pronounce "parents" with that extra vowel that it doesn't actually have but those people are definitely in the minority (mostly kids who watch too much TV).

I've always said "pair rents", even when we were too poor to have TV. Same with everyone at school. Seems like kids who watch too much TV just say "rents"